November 29, 2021
Alternating between verse forms, prose interludes, and direct quotations, Zoboi (The People Remember) recounts the life and career of legendary speculative fiction writer Octavia Butler (1947–2006), emphasizing her beginnings as a “star child” (her middle name, Estelle, means “star”). A sweeping mix of allusive poetry and contextualizing prose traces Butler’s birth during the baby boom and childhood “raised by her mother and grandmother—two hardworking and God-fearing matriarchs” in unsegregated Pasadena, Calif. Portraying Butler as a solitary child who “always seemed distant and aloof,” Zoboi traces the determined figure’s initial forays into literature, first as a reader and then as a creator of worlds. Examples cover Butler’s first novel, penned in her trusty pink notebook at age 10; early submissions to editors at age 13; and her subsequent focus on science fiction and making “imagination her life’s mission.” In a turn toward memoir, one section recounts Zoboi’s commonalities with Butler, including thebirthday they share and conversations between them. More extensive ode than strict biography, this is a fittingly expansive tribute to Butler’s visionary mind and the childhood that sowed it. Ages 10–up. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary.